Not enough women are involved in computer science to push the next level of innovation in tech, said Margo Georgiadis ⇒, who leads Google's commercial operations in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

The percentage of female computer science graduates is half of what it was 20 years ago, she said.

"We're going backwards, not forward. We need to change this trajectory," Georgiadis said Thursday. "We want the next generation of products being innovated to reflect our users. And when women are not part of the equation, we won't have products that reflect the unique needs and opportunities across our society."

Georgiadis, a Chicagoan who is president of the Americas at Google, made the remarks at Chicago organization Girls 4 Science's fifth annual Women's History Month reception and award ceremony at the Union League Club.

The nonprofit group, founded by Jackie Lomax in 2009, exposes girls ages 10 through 18 to opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (or STEM) through workshops, experiments, fields trips and mentoring.

"You have the power of the world's information in your hand and the ability to pull all of that data together. There's really no problem that you can't solve," she said. "But it's incredibly important that we have women a part of this equation."

Georgiadis, who leads Women@Google and programs focused on advancing STEM education for girls, cited four areas that influence decisions to pursue computer science: encouragement, career perception, self-perception and academic exposure.

She shared a few tips with the audience for success in the industry and in life.

• Don't major in classes, major in people

It's a lesson she said she learned from her parents.

"They said, 'You need to to find the most interesting people that you can and spend time with them. Your mind expands, and they also put you on the path of opportunity,'" she said. "I've done that throughout my career, and it's always helped me think bigger and grow faster."

That thinking led her to talk her way, as a freshman at Harvard, into a graduate-level class taught by the author of some articles she'd liked.

Her classmates were global diplomats coming to talk about government.

"I thought, 'Why should I study this when I have the opportunty to be in the room with people who are actually working on these problems?' It was completely transformational for me. It ended up changing my life."

• Be willing to be uncomfortable

The professor of that graduate class ended up being her college adviser, and he took her along as he advised governments in Asia.

"I got to carry his bags and spent most of my time wading around in [rice] paddy fields five miles from the nearest dirt road — a head taller than everyone else, with fuzzy red hair, with people who'd never seen anyone who didn't have straight black hair. I had to learn the language. I was genuinely uncomfortable."

But there, she said, she learned about the fundamentals of economics and how people made decisions, and was able to communicate that to policymakers.

"Focus on people, and let them take you places you might not have eneded up going," she said.

• Embrace the power of possibility

When the manager of the London office in which she worked tapped her to work on London's transportation system, Georgiadis said she felt out of her depth, as she had previously focused on economic development and the food industry.

"I was terrified. Not only do I not know anything about transportation, but I'm not even British," she said. "But I thought, 'He's the head of the office. He's brilliant. Let's make the most of this.'"

After a few weeks of meetings, she was comfortable enough to see how her analysis could be useful.

"I could see things in a different way, and started asking questions and was encouraging them to look at problems in a different way. And we came up with some radical new ways they could collaborate."